• Dodge NHRA Indy Nationals Presented by Pennzoil to take place Aug. 6-9
• Mopar Dodge//SRT Funny Car of Matt Hagan and Mopar Dodge//SRT Top Fuel Dragster of Leah Pruett from Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) will continue to sport new sinister, “Demon-possessed” SRT Hellcat Redeye paint schemes
• Fierce-looking red, black and chrome paint schemes promote the recent reveal of the 2021 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Redeye, the most powerful and fastest mass-produced sedan in the world
• Mopar and Dodge//SRT will have Dodge signage and vehicle display in midway to showcase brand offerings to fans
• Matt Hagan heads into race weekend with a win and a final elimination round appearance so far this season
• Leah Pruett sits second in Top Fuel points standings

August 4, 2020, Auburn Hills, Mich. – Mopar and Dodge//SRT brands continue to show their support of the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) by adding the Dodge name as title sponsor to the upcoming Mello Yello Drag Racing Series national event at Lucas Oil Raceway. This is the third consecutive Indianapolis-based race weekend since the return to racing action after a four-month hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the fifth race of the 2020 season.

The Dodge NHRA Indy Nationals Presented by Pennzoil will take place Aug. 6-9, an event with limited fans in attendance in accordance with Indiana state and health guidelines. Mopar and Dodge//SRT will have signage and a display in the midway to showcase production vehicle offerings to fans.

Dodge’s sponsorship of the event, the most recent addition to the reworked 2020 schedule in response to the ever-changing challenges presented by the ongoing pandemic, is a complement to other title sponsorship commitments planned for this NHRA season:

Dodge Mile-High NHRA Nationals (Denver, Colorado): Postponed/rescheduled for later this fall
Mopar Express Lane NHRA Nationals (Reading, Pennsylvania): Sept. 11-13
Mopar Express Lane NHRA SpringNationals Presented By Pennzoil (Houston, Texas): Oct. 23-25
Dodge NHRA Nationals (Las Vegas, Nevada): Oct. 30-Nov. 1

“I just can’t say enough about Dodge stepping up and sponsoring this race,” says Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) driver Matt Hagan, who earned a race win and advanced to the final elimination round leading up to this weekend’s event in his Mopar Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Car. “It’s pretty cool to see Dodge and Mopar show their support and really stand behind what we’re out here trying to do, which is put fans in the stands and race cars on the racetrack.”

DSR Top Fuel driver Leah Pruett, who sits in second place atop the Top Fuel championship points standings after solid gains at the two previous Indianapolis races, echoes her teammate’s sentiments and is also pleased to be back at Lucas Oil Raceway with title sponsorship backing from Dodge.

“I don’t care if you run at Indianapolis 100 times a year or just once during Labor Day weekend, racing at Indy carries a certain weight and prestige,” says Pruett. “To see Dodge step up (as title sponsor), makes my heart even happier than it already is when it’s pounding hard from nitro and 11,000 horsepower. It just reinforces what a great company it is and where their values lay; with their fan base and their customers.

“Given the circumstances, knowing the importance it has to fans attending a race in person or watching on TV, and helping getting the series back on track, it’s great to see Dodge bring this extra level of support to the series,” she added. “They had their dedicated number of races, but when times got tough, they showed what a true partner is.”

Hagan and Pruett both premiered new sinister “Demon-possessed” Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Redeye-themed race cars at the previous event. The fierce-looking red, black and chrome paint schemes for the two DSR entries come on the heels of the early July public unveiling of the new 797-horsepower Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Redeye, the most powerful and fastest mass-produced sedan in the world.

With a top speed of 203 mph and quarter-mile elapsed time of 10.6 seconds at 129 mph, the 2021 Charger SRT Hellcat Redeye is designed and engineered to appeal to muscle car enthusiasts who want even more — more power, more performance and more bragging rights at the drag strip.

Carrying the SRT Hellcat Redeye livery, Pruett feels even more motivated to continue to build on her most recent strong performances.

“It’s one thing to look good and it’s another to perform well while looking that good; those are two attributes that Dodge has cornered all of the time,” says Pruett. “I’m very happy with how we debuted our SRT Hellcat Redeye-themed dragster (at Lucas Oil NHRA SummerNationals) with a No. 2 qualifying spot and a semifinal finish. We’re looking to continue that momentum and take that a step further this weekend at the Dodge Indy Nationals Presented by Pennzoil. This is our second shot to put the Top Fuel dragster in the Winner’s Circle. It looks good in the shop, it looks good in the pit and on the track, but it won’t look any better than in the Winner’s Circle and that’s where our focus is at.”

Qualifying highlights will be broadcast on FOX Sports 1 on Sunday, Aug. 9, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. ET, while television coverage of the elimination rounds, including LIVE finals at the Dodge NHRA Indy Nationals, will air starting at 1 p.m. ET on the FOX national broadcast network.
 

Inside Line Promotions – BRANDON, S.D. (Aug. 4, 2020) – Dominic Scelzi posted a pair of top-five finishes last weekend during two of the biggest-paying races of the season under the Ollie’s Bargain Outlet All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 banner.

Scelzi finished fourth on Thursday at Plymouth Dirt Track in Plymouth, Wis., during the $26,000-to-win Rayce Rudeen Foundation Race and he placed second on Sunday at Huset’s Speedway during the $20,000-to-win C & B Operations Grand Reopening presented by Folkens Brothers Trucking. Both nights were his debut at each track and he now has seven top fives with the All Stars this year, which is more than the combined number of top-10 results in his career with the All Stars entering this year.

“It was an extremely good weekend,” he said. “I feel like since we’ve switched cars we’ve been on the right track and that showed this weekend. We qualified good every night and made the heat race inversion every night. We raced really good three of the four nights. It was just a really good four-day stretch.”

Scelzi qualified third quickest out of the 41 drivers on Thursday at Plymouth Dirt Track. He then placed third in a heat race and second in a dash to garner the third starting position in the main event.

“We were really good,” he said. “I think we could have run second through fourth, which is where we ultimately finished. We had good speed and it was awesome to get another top five with the All Stars.”

Scelzi ventured to 34 Raceway in West Burlington, Iowa, on Friday. He qualified fourth quickest out of 27 drivers. A third-place outing in a heat race locked him into the dash. He placed seventh in the race before ending the night with an eighth-place run in the A Main.

“It was pretty hard to pass all night,” he said. “The track was really wet. It widened up a bit in the feature, but was still hard to pass. I ran sixth for a lot of the race and made a mistake on a restart, which dropped me to seventh. Then I got caught in traffic trying to get to sixth and we placed eighth.”

Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville, Iowa, hosted an All Star show on Saturday. Scelzi timed in 21^st quickest overall, finished second in a heat race and capped the night with a 14^th-place showing in the main event.

“When we went out in qualifying I felt like we had a decent lap,” he said. “The inside row was taking off really well in the heats. We lost the start and that cost us a lot of positions in the feature. I do think if we started up front we could have run there. We ran around 10^th to 12^th for the majority of the feature, but we had a car spin in front of us going into turn three. We made contact and I half spun and went through the infield and that moved us back to 14^th.”

The weekend concluded on Sunday at Huset’s Speedway, where Scelzi made the most of his debut. He qualified 14^thquickest out of 30-plus racers. A heat race win and runner-up result in a dash lined Scelzi up third for the feature.

“In the dash we had a good dog fight with Kerry Madsen,” he said. “That gave me a lot of confidence going into the feature. We were right there in the top three all race long. Once we got back by Kerry for second the final time Cory (Eliason) was out there by a straightway. We were able to reel him in, but traffic didn’t fall my way so we finished second. It was a fun race and a great track.”

Scelzi will take his momentum into a busy weekend. He will compete on Thursday and Saturday at Knoxville Raceway during the 30^th annual My Place Hotels 360 Knoxville Nationals presented by Great Southern Bank. On Sunday the team heads to Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa, Iowa, for the Sage Fruit Ultimate Challenge presented by Searsboro Telephone Co. with the Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour. The Sage Fruit Front Row Challenge presented by Musco Lighting is Monday at Southern Iowa Speedway.

The 2020 Scheid Diesel Extravaganza  August 28-29 NEW VENUE Wagler Motorsports Park in Lyons, INSCHEDULE OF EVENTS Wagler Motorsports Park 4425 W 300 S Lyons, Indiana  Click here for Directions COVID19 Update:  Currently the venue is open with recommendation of wearing a mask and social distancing but no capacity limitations being an outdoor venue.   For more information on accommodations or to make your hotel or camping reservations today click on any of these links: On Site Camping  Camping at Daviess County Fairgrounds  Nearby Hotel & AccommodationsIf you are looking to rent a camper for the weekend check out www.rvshare.com or  www.outdoorsy.comWe are excited to offer some new ticket options this year!Weekend Pass $75 online only ($80 at the gate)Friday $40 All Day Pass (online or at gate)Friday after 6pm only $25 (gate only)Saturday $40 All Day Pass (online or at gate)Saturday after 6pm only $25 (gate only)Kids 12 and under are FREE

August 4, 2020

In choosing a paint scheme based on the Wood Brothers’ 1963 Ford Galaxie for the throwback weekend at Darlington Raceway on Sept. 6, the Motorcraft/Quick Lane team is honoring some of the team’s well-known accomplishments and one of its least-known – a Cup Series owners championship. And that fits perfectly with Darlington’s theme this year which is honoring series champions, past, present and future.

The original ’63 Galaxie, painted white on the top and red on the bottom, was the one driven to victory by Tiny Lund in the 1963 Daytona 500, one of NASCAR’s most memorable races. It also was driven by the late team founder Glenn Wood in his last win as a Cup driver, at Bowman Gray Stadium on July 13, 1963. Marvin Panch, who returned to the ’63 Galaxie after being severely burned in a sports car crash prior to the Daytona 500, also won in it, at North Wilkesboro on Sept. 29, 1963.

The rugged and versatile Ford, which was run on Superspeedways, road courses and quarter-mile short tracks, was the workhorse as the Wood Brothers won the 1963 car owner’s championship, the only Cup Series title in the Wood Brothers’ 70-year history in the sport.

In 1963, the driver’s title was won by Joe Weatherly, who ran 53 races driving for nine different owners, none of whom earned enough points to take the owners title. He won three races, scored 20 top-five and 35 top-10 finishes.

The Wood Brothers, who did not run a full schedule in that era, took the owners championship with 23 starts, scoring three wins, 16 top-five and 20 top-10 finishes. They used five different drivers – Wood, Lund, Panch, Dave MacDonald and Fred Lorenzen.

Lorenzen rolled the car in practice for its first race, at Riverside, Calif. After some at-track repairs, he drove it to a 22^nd-place finish, leading eight laps before the engine expired. MacDonald drove it in the fall race at Riverside, leading a race-high 92 laps before finishing second to Darel Dieringer.

The championship trophy bears the name of the late Ray Lee Wood, brother of the team founder and a long-time crew member on the No 21 Ford.

Glenn Wood explained in a 2017 interview that his brother’s name on the trophy is an example of the team’s legendary frugal ways.

“You had to buy a different license for the driver and the car owner,” he said. “So instead of buying two in my name I put one in Ray Lee’s. I saved ten dollars by doing it, but ten dollars was a good bit of money back then.

 “It was my car, but it’s his name on the trophy.”
 
The original car was turned back in to Holman-Moody at the end of the 1963 season and exchanged for a new model, but the team has recreated the original car and has the replica on display at its museum in Stuart, Va.
 
Matt DiBenedetto, who would like to win the Woods their second Cup title and his first, said that like many in the sport he was unaware of the Woods’ 1963 championship before he heard about it during a recent visit to the museum in Stuart.
 
“It’s a pretty cool story,” DiBenedetto said. “Panch got hurt in a big crash then Tiny drove the car and won the Daytona 500. It’s a cool car with a lot of history that people either don’t know or don’t remember.”
 

INDIANAPOLIS (Aug. 4) — Pro Stock points leader Jeg Coughlin Jr. is used to keeping his foot on the gas, something the six-time world champion promises to continue when drag racing returns to Lucas Oil Raceway for this weekend’s Dodge NHRA Indy Nationals, the third straight national event at the historic quarter-mile strip. “I think we’re all coming to the realization of how quickly things can change during this pandemic,” Coughlin Jr. said. “We’ve seen races being rescheduled, postponed or even cancelled outright this year so we’re just going to treat every single one we go to like it’s the final race of the Countdown to the Championship and the title is on the line. Jeg Coughlin Jr.“Really, dating back to last year’s championship chase, Rickie (Jones, crew chief) has been very aggressive with the tune-up and the JEGS.com Elite Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro has really responded well. We finished strong last year and we’re off to an incredible start this year so there’s no reason to change our tactics.” Coughlin powered from eighth to second place in the six races of last year’s championship charge, racing to a win and two runner-up results in the final three events. This year, he’s got a win and a runner-up in the three national events contested so far. “We’ve had one helluva start to the championship run this year and we need to keep it in high gear,” Coughlin said. “We’re going back to the same track we competed at a three weeks ago where we qualified No. 2 and ended up second on race day, so our expectations remain very high. “Considering the unique situation we’re in this year I know everyone at Elite is completely focused on limiting our errors, checking and double-checking every function we perform, and staying on the front foot. That goes for me as well: I want to be as fluid and consistent as a driver can be.”  Heading into the weekend, Coughlin leads second-ranked Jason Line by just eight points, with Elite teammate and reigning champion Erica Enders 15 points off the pace. The next driver in the standings, Kenny Delco, trails a distant 132 points back. Joining Coughlin in the Elite Motorsports pit for the second time ever is his nephew Troy Coughlin Jr., whose switched to the factory hot rod class after winning two Top Alcohol Dragster regional championships the past two seasons. Troy Jr. will also be racing in Super Comp at this event. Reigning Division 3 Top Dragster champion Mike Coughlin, Jeg Jr.’s brother, also will be on hand, looking for points in his home division as he tries to defend his third title. Furthermore, Troy Jr.’s sister Paige Coughlin will contest the Super Comp category. Just as he did at the first Indy national event the second weekend in July, Troy Jr. will be driving the JEGS.com Elite Motorsports Ford Mustang in Pro Stock, while sticking with his trusty JEGS.comdragster in Super Comp. “I feel like I learned a lot after actually competing in Pro Stock a few weeks back,” Troy Jr. said. “Although I know I have so much more to learn. I do know I couldn’t have a better group behind me. The guys at Elite Motorsports — Rick Jones and Mark Ingersoll, who are tuning the car, along with car chief Eric Luzinski, clutch specialist Mike DePalma, and our rear-end mechanic Tyler Harron, are the best at what they do. It’s been a dream scenario for me. Troy Coughlin Jr. in the JEGS.com Elite Motorsports Ford Mustang “I’ve been going over all the processes and procedures in my head. I’m working on listening to the car and determining what feedback I can give to help the guys. I’m also trying to be patient with everything. I have a very strong desire to do well and show everyone how much I appreciate this opportunity.” Drag racers would give anything to have a hot rod as consistent as Mike’s JEGS.com Top Dragster has been, dating all the way back to last year’s championship run. His recent runner-up finish at the JEGS SPORTSnationals proves his success isn’t a fluke. “I keep saying it but there is absolutely nothing to change on the car,” Mike said. “It’s just been about as perfect as something mechanical can be. It’s a real credit to Greg Cody, Tony Collier, Dave Raurk and Ryan Micke for taking so much pride in their jobs and refusing to be anything but the very best. “I love racing at Indy. It’s another one of our ‘home tracks.’ We’ve won a bunch of times there in the past and we’d love to do it again this weekend. It’s also exciting to be racing with my brother, my nephew and my niece. We’ve always been a racing family and we love nothing better than competing together and rooting each other on.” Mike Coughlin’s JEGS.com Top Dragster Paige will resume college soon as she works towards a degree at the Miami University of Ohio, where she is studying public relations and marketing. In the meantime, she’d love to rack-up a win in Super Comp, a class she’s been contesting for a few years now. “Indy is a fabulous racetrack and I’ve already made some great memories there,” the 20-year-old Paige said. “I went with Uncle Mike last year and he won the event, while we managed to go a bunch of rounds in our car. It was a great weekend for us; one we’d like to duplicate. “My crew chief, Justin Beaver, has my car back together since the Columbus race, where we had some issues, and we’ll be working hard to get it dialed in as quickly as possible. Thanks to everyone at JEGS.com for helping us get back to the races this soon.

NARC NEWSLINE – August 2, 2020, By Jim Allen …  Let’s face it, motorsports in general has been pretty lucky over the past 120-days or so.  While just about every sport on the planet was completely shut down due to the COVID-19 panic, racing was the first to get its game face back and actually put on some events.  True, it’s been a little like the Twilight Zone without spectators in the main grandstands, but it’s better than nothing.  The best way to describe “fan-less” events would be to say it’s sort of like showing up to a family reunion and then finding out you got the date wrong.  At that point you just make the best of the situation.  Then again, many race fans have told me that they really haven’t sacrificing much (if anything) as they sprawl out on their leather couch, watching Floracing.com on a giant flat screen, drinking hard alcohol, with fresh food served hot off the BBQ.  And let’s not forget there is never a line for the bathroom.  I guess if you ever had to compromise without a mask on, that’s not a bad way to go!

Now don’t get me wrong, this coronavirus deal really sucks ass – whether you buy into the big picture or not.  Yes, we are all upset that racing events play in front of  full grandstands in the Midwest, but four family members going to church on Sunday or not wearing masks at a Costco in California is a punishable crime.  Throw in all of the other drama in the United States and it gets even worse as the human race starves for anything resembling normalcy.  For race promoters, normalcy has been trying to find a way to struggle through some racing shows as their livelihood gets threatened forever.  Placerville, Petaluma, Ocean, Keller Auto, and Marysville have managed to squeeze in some weekly shows and generate some grocery money.  On the other side, Calistoga, Tulare, Santa Maria, Kern County and Stockton are laying on the mat like a bloodied UFC fighter with a crumpled financial statement in their hands.  It’s not pretty and you would be able to see that distress on every race promoters face if it weren’t for the fact they are hiding it behind a mask.  Now top it off with no Knoxville Nationals, no Trophy Cup and the medical profession is wondering why prescriptions for anti-depressants are going through the roof.  Which brings me to my next question:  Has anybody got COVID-19 at a race track?  I didn’t think so!

KELLER AUTO SPEEDWAY (Season Opener – 6/20/20) …  A NARC season opener in June?  Are you kidding me?  What’s next, Thanksgiving in July?  But seriously, thank you to Keller Auto Speedway promoter Peter Murphy for working with us to generate enough sponsorship money and back gate proceeds to sport a full paying purse on June 20th.  Twenty-nine cars towed down to Hanford to race in 103-degree heat with a full set of COVID-19 health guidelines to follow.  Also making the call was 20 RaceSavers and 14 Kings of Thunder non-wing machines.  The pit gate was backed up bumper-to-bumper like Los Angeles rush hour as releases were signed and body temperatures were scanned.  And wearing a mask in 100 degree plus weather was about as comfortable as telling your mother-in-law you have an illegitimate kid with a stripper in Kansas.  But we all survived to watch Spencer Bayston represent the Hoosier state with an impressive fast time-heat race win-dash win-and feature win domination on the 3/8 mile oval.  Tarlton Motorsports crew chief Paul Baines had Bayston dialed in and on a wire with a perfect race car after a previous series of weekly show” off-nights.”  Seventh starter Bud Kaeding kept the Indiana driver honest in the late going, but Bayston answered the call to become the 84th winner in series history.  My compliments to Bayston who is very well spoken and professional with a microphone in his face.

… Roseville’s Jodie Robinson was excited like a kid on Christmas morning making her first ever 410 start.  She logged a 16th place finish in the feature.  Running a 410 at Hanford for the first time clarifies the statement of getting “thrown to the wolves.” … Michael Faccinto impressed driving a 360 for Harley Van Dyke.  Starting 23rd and staying out of trouble, Faccinto methodically picked his way to a ninth place finish.  The team earned $150 from Swift Metal Finishing and another $300 from super fan Rick Freund. …  It was also Trent Canales first ever race driving a 410 sprint car.  He finished fifth in the semi. …  Brendan Warmerdam took a wild ride in the main.  He jammed a rut in turn one and catapulted deep into the shadows of downtown Hanford.  He exited the car with a smile on his face and smirked, “that was a wild ride.”  We totally agree. … Tim Kaeding, driving the Bates-Hamilton Maxim started 10th and finished the night on the podium with a third. …  With absolutely no racing going on in the COVID-19 hotbed of Southern California, AJ Bender made the tow to Hanford from San Diego.  The non-wing ace qualified for the feature, but finished 21st. … Kurt Nelson was the first car to qualify during the 2020 season. … Tucker Worth:  Semi-winner. … Four-time NARC King of the West champ Kyle Hirst made his first appearance aboard the Katie Williams Motorsports “0” car.  Started seventh, finished sixth. …

… Thank you to Roth Motorsport, Tarlton Motorsports, Dalton’s, Speedshift and Fujitsu General USA for their tremendous support of this show. …  The King of the West feature ran first and finished around 10:45 p.m.  The winged cars didn’t finish their race until about midnight. ….  Yes that was Dominic Scelzi who has spent most of 2020 zigging and zagging between California events and shows in the Midwest.  Problem is, he lost track of his racing gear and returned to the Golden State without a uniform or helmet.  He improvised with an old helmet and a uniform that belonged to his dad Gary from his drag racing days. He finished seventh in the Roth Motorsports KPC. … If you needed proof that hair salons and barbers have been closed for a while in California, a quick trip through the pit area would have proved it.  …  Nobody died from COVID-19.

OCEAN SPEEDWAY (Howard Kaeding Classic – 7/18/20) … Usually when you read the box score and you see something like: “Kyle Hirst 1-30,” you kind of figure it was a cake walk and as exciting as watching paint dry.  However, never judge a book by it’s cover and if you need proof, all you had to do was to take a look at Mr. Hirst when he excited the Williams Motorsports Maxim in victory lane.  He was happy and smiling, but sweating up a storm and admitting he was winded.  That’s because Justin Sanders pushed, challenged and attacked him the entire distance in a classic Ocean Speedway battle that theoretically would have had a packed grandstands buzzing with excitement.  It was a great race with both drivers getting completely out of shape at times, but bouncing off the mat to continue the open wheel skirmish. … Spencer Bayston charged from 15th to third in the Tarlton Motorsports KPC.  However, it was Sanders who pocketed the $500 Spire Sport & Entertainment HK Classic weekend bonus without passing a car on Saturday.  Sanders roared past 14 cars on the Friday night show (20th-6th) to score the money.  Ironically, Sanders and his crew had built a brand new car in the wee hours of the Friday morning for Saturday’s show.  According to Sanders the car wasn’t quite right after sustaining damage in an ASCoC race a month prior.  I think he got his monies worth. …

The Keller Motorsports 2 car driven by James Ringo sported a 410 motor on loan from Larry Antaya. …  Joey Ancona was a happy camper after pocketing $250 from Johnstone Supply for his semi-win. …  Kyle Offill was a no show on Saturday after destroying his car in an ugly heat race crash at Friday’s Taco Bravo show. …  DJ Netto, the winner on Friday night, appeared headed towards a weekend sweep when he started with fast time.  He pocketed $500 from Norm Martin and ARP for his 12.041 seconds worth of work.  Good work if you can get it!  Unfortunately, his 88N developed a few battle scars in the feature and dropped out after 15-laps. … Blake Carrick scored his second NARC top ten of the season at Ocean.  He scored sixth. … The hired gun for the HK Classic in the Roth Motorsports ride was Ryan Bernal.  He was ninth. …  While some drivers were enjoying just their second or third outing of the year, Shane Golobic has already toured all around the country and logged over 35 shows.  He finished second on Friday and seventh on this night. …  You can pretty much count on the Howard Kaeding Classic being a 40-lap main next year.  … There was a scaled-down HK Classic Luncheon in the pits with proceeds benefiting the NARC Benevolent Fund.  A $20 donation got you some of the best food that Myles McAtee and his crew could serve up.  It was worth every finger-licking cent. …  There was a 35+ temperature swing between the Hanford event at the Watsonville show.  A great way to spend a summer night.  … Nobody died from COVID-19.

… And finally, a special thank you to Bud Kaeding for all of his hard work that make the 10th Annual event a possibility, and then a reality. It wasn’t a mistake that this show paid $5000 to win and $800 to start.  He worked the phones and relationships to generate a stout $36,000 in prize money.  Just think of what it would’ve been with spectators in the grandstands?  Of course all of this would have not be possible without the tremendous support of all of the sponsors who contributed.  Thank you very much!

NARC NOTES:  With his HK win, Hirst passed Steve Kent into fourth place on the NARC-King of the West all-time winners list with 29 victories. … There is a remote possibility of a NARC King of the West Fujitsu Sprint Car Series race on Saturday, September 5th.  Nothing has been finalized and a whole lot of planets need to align to make it a reality.  That’s all we are saying at this point.  Stay tuned!  …  Just in case you missed it, the NARC King of the West series is not crowning a championship team or rookie of the year this season (for obvious reasons.) … After watching several races on PPV, it’s my opinion that it’s imperative to speed up shows – and that is with a nice refreshing adult beverage in my hands while sitting on my couch eating barbecued ribs.  The down time between races is grueling.  … The more I learn about driver McKenna Haase, the more impressed I am.  This girl has a huge heart and has it going on. …  Kyle Larson is in the midst of one of the greatest seasons in sprint car history.  “Yung Money” is a generational talent.  Enjoy it while you have the opportunity.

: Another Wild 1-2 Finish for Corvette C8.RGarcia, Taylor take second GTLM win of season; Gavin, Milner finish as runners-up

ELKHART LAKE, Wis. (Aug. 2, 2020) – Corvette Racing took its second consecutive 1-2 finish in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s GT Le Mans (GTLM class) following a chaotic finish Sunday at Road America. Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor won for the second time in their No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R following a late-race pass in torrential rain. Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner placed second in the sister No. 4 Corvette C8.R. It was the eighth victory at Road America for Corvette Racing, and the team’s first there since 2016. Garcia and Taylor both won for the first time in their IMSA career at Road America and extended their points lead to 10 in the class. Gavin and Milner unofficially moved to third in the standings. Chevrolet also grew its lead in the GTLM Manufacturer’s Championship to eight points. Corvette Racing has now won three consecutive races in the category. Things weren’t looking positive for the first half of the race. Taylor, who qualified second, led early but the expected tire degradation reduced the pace for the GTLM cars. Adding to the problems for the team were electronics issues on the No. 4 Corvette that left both Gavin and Milner without traction control. The predicted rain for the race came with just under an hour to go. Garcia, who took over with two hours left in the race, was the first GTLM runner to pit for rain tires and stopped from sixth place. Two other GTLM cars followed suit but three others stayed out, including the then-leading Porsche which skidded off-track during a downpour at Turn One. Milner remained on slick tires during the first deluge as officials halted the race with 43 minutes left. The rain let up initially before cars returned to the track with about 25 minutes to go once the red flag was lifted. Following the final pit stops for wet tires, racing resumed with seven minutes left and Garcia in second place.  An even more intense rain began to fall with just minutes left in the two-hour, 40-minute race. Garcia was locked in a back-and-forth duel with Porsche’s Nick Tandy just before the GTLM leader and the third-place Porsche went off-track late in the lap. Both Garcia and Milner, who did a masterful job on a wet track with no traction control, were able to get through the chaos and took the checkered flag under a race-ending, full-course caution period. Corvette Racing’s next event is the GT-only Michelin GT Challenge at Virginia International Raceway on Saturday, Aug. 22.

ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – GTLM RACE-WINNER: “It was super tough. Because of the wave-by, we were at the back of all the GTD cars. So the spray we had back there was amazing. It was impossible to see anything. The first thing was to go by a couple of LMP2 cars while fighting (Nick) Tandy to catch up to the 24 BMW. It was a very intense three laps. I knew from Sebring practice that the Corvette C8.R was really good in the wet, even if today was beyond wet! I had Nick all over me, and we had many times when we were together… almost just sailing together instead of racing together. I knew the Carousel and the Kink were going to be really bad, and the line I took on the previous lap seemed to work. Luckily enough for me it was the same and I was one of the few cars to make it through. It’s another 1-2 finish for Corvette Racing, which is amazing. It’s finally my first victory at Road America, so it’s been a very good weekend.” WHAT DID YOU SEE OF THE BMW AHEAD OF YOU? DID HE SPIN ON HIS OWN?“The Carousel and the Kink were almost impossible to go through that part of the track. There is really nothing you can do there. It depends on the depth of the water. The Corvette C8.R survived it better than the rest. I don’t know if it was due to the race line I took. I was following the car behind me and saw the BMW lose control. The race still wasn’t done because I had to do another lap through there. It’s a credit to how good the C8.R is in the wet. Thanks to everyone at Team Chevy because this car seems to be working in all conditions.” HOW IMPORTANT IS THIS WIN TO EXTEND YOUR POINTS LEAD?“We didn’t know starting the season how the C8.R would be. With the fourth at Daytona, we saw the potential of the car. Our team did a great job during the shutdown with fixing things that needed to be corrected. We’ve had a chance to win the last three races, and we’ve converted those. We need to keep putting pressure on everyone and make the rest of the field make mistakes. On our own, we need to be their in the end and maximize our points opportunities. The next one is VIR, where we have tested with the new Corvette. We will do what we can to keep this momentum and carrying on winning.”

JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – GTLM RACE-WINNER: “It was a wild day…very unexpected. The race started off strong for us. We took a different strategy to go with three stops from the beginning. Thankfully it worked out well with the timing the rain and track position. Antonio never gave up. It was a tough fight in tough conditions, but he did a great job of surviving for our second win of the year and third of the year for Corvette Racing.” THIS RACE WAS ON THE NATIONAL NBC NETWORK. WAS THIS THE KIND OF EXCITEMENT THAT WAS GOOD FOR NETWORK TV? “It had a bit of everything. The start for me was exciting, and the battles were all good. I could see on the big screen across the frontstretch that the prototype battle was often exciting and had a little bit of everything with the strategies. The weather was a bit different for those who probably turn into NBC for NASCAR where they wouldn’t run in the rain. There were probably too many crashes for everyone’s liking, but the show was very exciting with the battle for the win at the end. You like to see that between the manufacturers.” TALK ABOUT WINNING ON THE SAME DAY AS YOUR BROTHER (RICKY TAYLOR):“It’s definitely cool. I think this is the first time we’ve won on the same weekend. I know we’ve gotten a pole on the same weekend, but in all the years a win has never gone both our ways. It was cool to watch their battle at the end with the 10 car. I know my dad’s team hasn’t won here either, and we tried hard for many years.”

OLIVER GAVIN, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – FINISHED SECOND IN GTLM: “I take my hat off to the team every time for never giving up. It didn’t look like we were going to be finishing that high up  in the dry. But as we all know, there was a chance of rain all around. In this part of the world when the rain comes, it comes big. You just have to take you chances and make the right calls at the right time. We got a little lucky with a few things, and ultimately the No. 3 Corvette made the right choice on the right tires at the right time. We didn’t quite get that break or make that decision at that time. But then as all the pit stops cycled through for that last restart, we knew we just had to flat-out race.  Our car was compromised a little as we didn’t have any traction control as part of an electrical issue throughout the entire race that we couldn’t really get on top of it. I fought it all during my stints. I honestly don’t know how Tommy kept the car on the track when he driving around on slick tires behind the safety car. I mean… water that was three or four inches deep on slick tires with no TC was amazing. For us to come away, even with all the stuff that happened, with a one-two finish is pretty spectacular. Hats off to the team and the crew and also to the C8.R. It seems like it is a car that can live through some crazy circumstances and conditions on track and deals with it. It’s a very fine car.”

TOMMY MILNER, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – FINISHED SECOND IN GTLM: “That was absolutely wild. We had kind of a tough day to start with, but it came back pretty well for us there at the end.  Credit to the guys with their never-give-up attitude that Corvette Racing is famous for definitely paid off today. The conditions were unbelievably difficult. The call to stay out there on slicks just before the full-course yellow was just as much mine as it was the engineers. I thought it was the right thing to do to run one more lap to see how bad the rain was going to be. And it ended up being almost biblical in the amount of rain that came. In all the races I’ve done, this has been the most rain I’ve ever seen come down at one time. It was hard enough just keeping it on the track under yellow with slicks, and it was bad enough when it was still green just trying to survive. Then it went red flag so we had the opportunity to come in and change it to rain tires. That in itself was difficult. For me I knew I just needed to get to pitlane and survive. That was the name of the game there and see what happened at the end. Once we went green, it was the most difficult conditions I have ever driven in my life with the amount of spray and with traffic and having so many cars around. At times it felt like I was driving blind. I could have closed my eyes and would have had the same amount of visibility at that point. I just tried to use very bit of muscle memory and track knowledge I could as to where the track goes at certain points. In the end, luckily we just survived with a first and second for the team. The day didn’t start out well, but it ended as well as it could.”(Not having traction control) “Because I didn’t have it from the time I got in the car, I had to manage it from the start. In the dry, it’s definitely difficult because you are trying to not use the rear tires too much. I felt like I did a decent job in that first run but driving in the wet without it makes it that much more difficult. To be honest, the Corvette felt really good in the wet. Even though we don’t have a lot of time in the wet, the guys made the right call with tire pressure. When the Michelin wet tires are new, they’re really good. That gave me the confidence early on to really push, get through traffic, and trust in the car and tire to find the fastest way around.”

Honda claims fastest lap, top-ten finish at Road America
Mat Pombo and Mike LaMarra finish eighth in the Road America 120
Pombo claims fastest lap for Honda in the closing minutes of competition

ELKHART LAKE, WI (August 1, 2020) –The LA Honda World Racing team notched another top-ten finish at the famed Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin with the #73 Honda Civic Type R TCR drivers Mat Pombo and Mike LaMarra scoring eighth in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Road America 120.

Starting fifth, the duo persevered through a tricky race that saw many series veterans finding trouble. LaMarra took control of the #73 Civic for the first 56 minutes of the race before handing it over to Pombo for the final one hour and four minutes.

During his stint, fuel strategy forced Pombo to pit an additional time compared to his competitors’ single stops, pushing them down the order. However, he did manage the fastest TCR lap of the race, a 2:20.971, set on lap 47 of 49, just before the yellow caution flag came out to end the race, following a late-race crash involving a GS class car.

The #37 LA Honda World Racing machine shone in qualifying, with Chris Miller putting his and Shelby Blackstock’s Honda Civic Type R TCR third on the grid. Miller got a fantastic start and even got into the lead on the first lap of the race. Unfortunately, a mechanical issue soon sent Miller off the course in Turn Five, ending the #37’s day.

Taylor Hagler made her return to the series after contracting, and recovering from, a COVID-19 that forced her out of the previous round at Sebring International Raceway. She and co-driver Ryan Eversley started 12th in the #77 Civic. A wiring loom issue forced Hagler into the pits early and, once that was fixed, a subsequent broken hood pin ended their day.

HPD has three ready-to-race Civic models for touring car competition. The line starts with the affordable and reliable Civic Si TCA race car, then leads to the Civic Type R TC racer that puts legendary Type R performance on track, and culminates with the no-compromise, championship-winning Civic Type R TCR race car. Our unparalleled trackside support at every level from HPD engineers is a unique benefit that no other manufacturer can offer. Find out more about these cars and our touring programs at: https://hpd.honda.com/Motorsports/Touring

Honda Racing social media content and videos from Road America are available on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/HondaRacingHPD) and on Twitter at (https://twitter.com/HondaRacing_HPD).  Produced by CoForce Digital Media, YouTube video packages can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/HondaRacingHPDTV.  

Next
The MICHELIN Pilot Challenge travels to VIRginia International Raceway for the August 23rd Virginia Is For Racing Lovers Grand Prix. The race can be streamed live on TrackPass on NBC Sports Gold.

Quotes
Mat Pombo (#73 LA Honda World Honda Civic Type R TCR), finished eighth, TCR fastest lap: “Road America this weekend was so fun to be at. We had a fast car all weekend in practice — top 2 in every session and then a solid top 5 qualifying from Mike. Our #73 LA Honda World Civic Type R TCR car was looking great for the race. Unfortunately, Lady Luck wasn’t on our side and the competition found a lot of speed going into the race. Our fuel strategy caught us off guard there at the end, as we needed two stops to our competition’s single stop. However, that let me get a new set of tires right at the end and lay down a fast lap to show what these Honda’s are capable of. Looking forward to VIR for redemption in a couple weeks”

Acura Team Penske’s Ricky Taylor and Dane Cameron top qualifying at Road America
Acura Team Penske also qualified 1-2 at Road America in 2019
Matt McMurry heads Acura NSX GT3 effort, qualifying seventh in GTD

ELKHART LAKE, Wis. (Aug. 1, 2020) – For the second year in a row, Acura Team Penske swept qualifying for Sunday’s IMSA WeatherTech Championship race at Road America, with Ricky Taylor claiming the pole, and teammate Dane Cameron qualifying second. In GTD, Meyer Shank Racing’s Matt McMurry posted the seventh-quickest GTD qualifying run in his Acura NSX GT3 Evo.

Acura Team Penske
Taylor hustled his #7 Acura ARX-05 to a time of 1:49.061 around the 4.0-mile Road America circuit, with teammate and defending series champion Cameron slotting in second, three-tenths of a second behind. This is Taylor’s 20th career pole in IMSA competition, and his second for Acura Team Penske, with the first recorded last year at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

The front-row sweep repeated Acura Team Penske’s qualifying performance from last year, when Cameron claimed the pole driving the #6 ARX-05, and Helio Castroneves completed the front row in the #7 Acura. Cameron and Juan Pablo Montoya went on to finish second in last year’s race en route to the IMSA Manufacturer, Driver and Team championships.

Taylor will start the #7 for Sunday’s two-hour, 40-minute contest, once again co-driving with Castroneves, while Montoya will continue to share the driving duties aboard the #6 with Cameron.

Acura NSX GT3 Evo Teams
Matt McMurry led the way for Meyer Shank Racing team in the ultra-competitive GT Daytona category qualifying session, and will start his #86 Acura NSX GT3 seventh in class, sharing the driving duties with defending series champion Mario Farnbacher.

In the #57 Heinricher Racing with MSR Acura, Misha Goikhberg qualified just over a tenth of a second slower in eighth, and will share with co-driver Alvaro Parente. Till Bechtolscheimer rounded out the Acura GTD contingent in qualifying, and will start his Gradient Racing NSX GT3 Evo from 10th before handing off to co-driver Marc Miller in tomorrow’s race.

Live US network television coverage from Road America begins at 1 p.m. EDT on Sunday, August 2, on NBC. Complete, flag-to-flag race coverage also will be available on the NBC Sports App and NBC Gold with NBCSN Trackpass authentication.

Acura Motorsports social media content and video links from Road America will be available on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/HondaRacingHPD) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/HondaRacing_HPD).  Produced by the CoForce Digital Media, the YouTube videos can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/HondaRacingHPDTV.  

Quotes
Ricky Taylor (#7 Acura Team Penske ARX-05) pole qualifier, first pole of 2020, 20th career IMSA pole: “It’s been a great weekend for Acura Team Penske and it’s nice to cement the strength of our ARX-05 prototypes in winning the pole position, and doing it in a 1-2 fashion. Both cars have been really fast this weekend. We kept swapping the top spot on the charts. Road America is a track that fits these cars so well, so we were hoping to come out of the box strong to get our season back on track a bit. We’ve done that to this point, but we need to continue to execute in the race the way we have so far this weekend.”

Matt McMurry (#86 Meyer Shank Racing Acura NSX GT3 Evo) qualified seventh in GTD: “Qualifying went pretty well today, but we had pace to be further ahead than we ended up, Unfortunately I ran into traffic on what would have been my fast lap. We’re trying to strategize for tomorrow. There’s a strong chance of rain [tomorrow] and Mario [Farnbacher, co-driver] and I are both excited for that!”

CORVETTE RACING AT ROAD AMERICA: Second, Third in GTLM QualifyingTaylor, Gavin put in strong showings behind wheel of mid-engine Corvette C8.R

ELKHART LAKE, Wis. (Aug. 1, 2020) – Corvette Racing will roll off second and third in the GT Le Mans (GTLM) category of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for Sunday’s fourth round of the series at Road America. Jordan Taylor and Oliver Gavin were the fastest qualifiers in the pair of mid-engine Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.Rs in Saturday’s 15-minute qualifying session. Taylor set a lap of 2:00.854 (120.581 mph) in the No. 3 Corvette followed closely by Gavin in the No. 4 C8.R with a lap of 2:00.904 (120.531 mph). Both were slightly behind pole-winner Laurens Vanthoor but very much on pace around the 4.048-mile, 14-turn road course. Corvette Racing is on a two-race winning streak in the class. Championship leaders Taylor and Antonio Garcia won a month ago at Daytona following a lengthy break due to the COVD-19 pandemic, followed by a victory for Gavin and Tommy Milner two weeks ago at Sebring. The team has seven victories at Road America, and Corvette Racing held its first on-track test of the C8.R at the circuit in 2018. The 2020 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray will serve as Official Pace Car for the IMSA rounds of the WeatherTech Championship and Michelin Pilot Challenge at Road America. Named by MotorTrend as 2020 Car of the Year, the 2020 Stingray is Chevrolet’s first mid-engine production Corvette. It features a 6.2-liter V8 engine with an output of 495hp, goes from 0-60 mph in less than three seconds and achieves a top speed of 194 mph. Both the Corvette Stingray and Corvette C8.R were developed simultaneously with a deeper level of technology transfer between the race car and a production Corvette than ever before, which helps contribute to many of its advancements. As a result, the C8.R shares the highest percentage of parts between the production and race car than any previous generation. The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship at Road America is scheduled for 12:05 p.m. ET on Sunday with live network coverage on NBC plus streaming options on the NBC Sports App. IMSA Radio will broadcast the race on XM 202, SiriusXM Online 972 and at IMSA.com, which also will host live timing and scoring.

JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – QUALIFIED SECOND IN GTLM: “It was a good day. It wasn’t the smoothest that we’ve had all year but we got good direction on the car this morning with what we wanted to do for changes ahead of qualifying. Those showed really well, and the Corvette was really nice to drive. We’re still using this as a little bit of a test session as we haven’t tested here before with these cars. There are a few more areas where we can make some improvements and gains for the race. But to be second and third today is a good start. We’re not sure where everyone is on tire strategy, and once again it looks like it could rain again. It’ll be good and it’s good to start up front. This is a tough place to race with all the traffic and how narrow it is, but that’s what makes it exciting.”

OLIVER GAVIN, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – QUALIFIED THIRD IN GTLM: “It was a tight session. Certainly we were looking to maximize everything that we had taken from the final practice with our Corvette. We knew we needed to improve a little bit in some spots. We worked away on it and did make some improvements, but also the track conditions had changed a little so we were chasing that somewhat as well as some of the changes we made. The qualifying session was very close. Tomorrow’s race will very much be a story of tires. That will all unfold in those first few laps to see where we stack up with our competition. Plus most likely there will be some rain at some point. Whether it comes during the race or not, we will see. Everyone at Corvette Racing is quietly confident. The Corvette has been competitive the last couple of races. This race tomorrow will be hard, but we have the best team on the pitlane a great car in the C8.R. We will be ready.”

Linus Lundqvist looks to build on early season success at Barber

LEEDS, ALABAMA (July 31, 2020)- After a set of strong events, the Formula Regional Americas Championship Powered by Honda heads further South, returning to Barber Motorsports Park July 31-August 2 for another triple-header event weekend. (Entry List)

FR Americas debuted its 2019 season on the picturesque circuit, supporting the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama. This year, FR Americas will headline the event weekend with three 35-minute rounds staged between Saturday and Sunday. (Stream FanRacing.Live)

Sweeping the first five rounds, Swedish driver Linus Lundqvist enters the weekend leading the championship. Perfect in points (125 points) Lundqvist is making an early bid on the season championship prize, a full season scholarship for with a Honda-supported IndyLights team in 2021. (Championship Standings)

Further underlining his grip on the early parts of the season, Lundqvist clinched all pole positions at stake and set the fastest lap in four out of the five races. On his way to victory, Lundqvist also erased previous lap records at both Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and VIRginia International Raceway. 

With only racing at one American circuit before entering the FR Americas season, Barber will be another new track for Lundqvist.

“I’ve got a good feeling, we know we’re strong and clearly we have the pace to win races, but I’d be foolish to take anything for granted,” said Lundqvist. “It’s really much the same heading into this weekend as in previous races. It’s another brand new track for me, possibly slightly more challenging this time than at VIR because we don’t have a day of testing on Thursday.

“It was the same at Mid-Ohio, though, and it went pretty well there, so it’s not really something I worry about. I’m happy to be racing again and can’t wait to try out Barber, which looks like a lot of fun!”

While Lundqvist is a force of dominance on the track, reigning F4 U.S. champion and FR Americas scholarship winner Joshua Car, kept Lundqvist honest at VIR with a trio of second-place finishes. The pair also set a new closest margin of victorytrack record in Virginia, taking the checkered just 0.256-seconds apart.

Carrying his momentum into Barber, the Crosslink Competition rookie looks to claim his first visit to the top podium step and upset Lundqvist’s winning streak.

“It’s really important for us to have good points scoring weekend before the month-long break between Barber and Sebring,” said Car. “We had an amazing weekend at VIR and the pace to win. While Barber is a new track for me, the team and I have been reviewing data from last season, I’ve been on the sim trying to learn the track and keeping up my training routine on the road to prepare for this weekend. We are hungry for a win, and I believe we will take a victory at Barber.”

HMD Motorsports shook up its roster ahead of Barber, returning to the gird as a two-car effort with. Joining HMD Motorsports for the remainder of the 2020 season is Canadian Logan Cusson. With his best finish of the season so far being eighth, the 20-year-old decided to switch teams after VIR.

Rookie David Malukas, who is second in the championship point standings, joins Cusson as HMD’s second driver. Malukas finished on the podium in four of the five races this season. Learning the car more each weekend and nicely settling into the new series after IndyLights postponed its 2020 season, Malukas expects good results at Barber.

One of the few drivers in the field with competition experience at Barber is Newman Wachs Racing pilot Victor Franzoni. The Brazilian star has significant experience at the track, competing on the 17-turn, 2.38-mile circuit successfully through his years in the Road to Indy program. Franzoni finished third at Mid-Ohio, but missed out on a podium finish at VIR. Franzoni hopes that his vast experience at Barber provides him with enough fuel for a breakthrough weekend and maiden FR Americas victory.

“I am extremely excited for the race in Barber, it’s one of my favorite tracks,” said Franzoni. “The NWR crew are doing an amazing job so I’m sure we going to be very competitive there. We’re working a lot for the win and I really hope it comes this weekend.”

Abel Motorsports pilot Jacob Abel is the only driver in the field this weekend who graced the FR Americas podium last season at Barber, finishing third. Abel has faced several challenges that have plagued the start of his first full FR Americas season. Overcoming mechanical issues and unfortunate incidents, Abel’s best results in the opening five rounds were a trio of sixth-place finishes at Mid-Ohio. His goal for this weekend is to pierce into the top-five and make a return to the podium. 

“Our preseason test at Barber was really good, so I’m optimistic,” Abel said. “We had that podium there last season and I really like the track a lot.  It’s similar to Mid-Ohio for me.  It’s a tough place to pass, so qualifying will be crucial.  I’m in great shape so I’m ready for another hot weather race weekend.”  

The official F4 U.S. Championship weekend kicks off on Friday with a pair of practices. Qualifying opens Saturday’s track events at 8:40 a.m. with the first of three races starting at 12:55 p.m. The weekend culminates Sunday with two additional 35-minute races (8:00 a.m. and noon). The three-race FR Americas event will be open to fans. Tickets are only available at the gate, $20 per day or $35 for the weekend, the event is cashless, only debit and credit cards will be accepted.

All feature races will be live streamed world-wide on FanRacing.Live. Fans can follow practice and qualifying times on the Race Monitor App or on FRAmericas.com  

NHRA^® Team Report

Dodge^® NHRA Summernationals – Indianapolis

Pre-Race Report

After a quick trip to St. Louis for NHRA sanctioned testing, Cruz Pedregon and team are looking forward to putting what they learned earlier in the week to work for them in qualifying Saturday. 

“It was good to put the Snap-on Dodge^® through the rigors of some test runs. Since Dodge is a race sponsor this weekend, we want to make sure the car and team are performing at their best,” says Cruz. “Before leaving the shop, we invited my good friend Dr. Jason Winkle to talk to the team about being high performers. He’s written the book ‘The High Performance Athlete’ that’s based on what he’s learned in his years as director of Combatives at the United States Military Academy at West Point and from special ops, SWAT teams and athletes who’ve achieved excellence in high pressure situations. And, there’s nothing quite like the pressure you feel when you’ve got to make sure a high-powered machine like an NHRA Funny Car runs at its peak with limited runs and only a few seconds to prove what it can do.”

The team also spent time in the shop servicing and maintaining a good inventory of parts…critical to the rest of the season. Even with the racing schedule changing to meet state and local coronavirus-related mandates, the team is committed to making strong runs and putting on a good show for fans in the stands and watching on FOX or online.

Cruz’s Dodge^® will again pay tribute to the Snap-on 100^th with its paint scheme and logo. Fans are encouraged throughout the season to post pictures of the car with the hashtag #Snapon100. 

FORD PERFORMANCE and KESELOWSKI WIN AT LOUDON    LOUDON, NH – August 3, 2020 – Ford Performance and Roush Yates Engines won their third straight race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway with Brad Keselowski during the Foxwoods Resort Casino 301 (Kevin Harvick 2018 and 2019).  Keselowski’s win was his third for the NASCAR Cup Series 2020 season. This marked Team Penske’s 50th NCS series win with Ford Performance and Roush Yates Engines since 2013.

“Congratulations to Roger, Brad, Jeremy, and everyone at Team Penske,” said Doug Yates, President and CEO of Roush Yates Engines. “The Ford Mustangs ran strong at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and it was great to see the teams of Team Penske, Stewart-Haas Racing, and Wood Brother Racing finish in the top 10. I’m looking forward to racing at Michigan International Speedway this upcoming weekend and thankful for the leadership and commitment from Ford Motor Company.”

Keselowski led the final 81 laps to finish 1.647 seconds ahead of Denny Hamlin in the 318 mile race. In total, Keselowski’s No. 2 Ford Mustang led a total of 184 out of 301 laps and won Stage 2. Six Fords finished in the top-10, with Team Penske teammate Joey Logano in P4, Stewart- Haas Racing Kevin Harvick in P5, Wood Brothers Racing Matt DiBenedetto in P6, Stewart-Haas Racing teammates Aric Almirola in P7, and rookie Cole Custer in P8.

“We’ve had a lot of great races this year with the 2 car, but we just haven’t really went out and kind of dominated a race,” said Keselowski. “Talking to Jeremy Bullins and like, ‘Man, what do we need to get to the next level? We’re right there. We need to go out and just dominate a race,’ and that’s what today was for us with the Western Star/Alliance parts Ford Mustang. I’m really proud of my team and the effort that they gave today. A great race car and to all the Team Penske, thank you. It’s so great to be racing back in front of fans again. It feels like forever, so welcome back, guys.”   Ford leads all manufacturers with 11 Mustang race wins while Stewart-Haas and Kevin Harvick lead the owner and driver points standings in NCS.

The NASCAR Cup Series travels to Michigan International Speedway for a double header on Saturday, August 8th and Sunday August 9th while the NASCAR Xfinity Series heads to Road America.

In the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Series at Road America on Saturday afternoon, Multimatic finished P8 while PF Racing finished P13 with the 5.2L V8 Ford Engine. These Ford Mustangs will race again on August 22 – 23 at Virginia International Raceway.

27 CHAMPIONSHIPS – 398 WINS – 357 POLES!

2020 ushered in a world of changes and the Holley NMRA Ford Nationals wasn’t spared from those adjustments. One major change was moving the Nitto Tire NMRA/NMCA Super Bowl of Street Legal Drag Racing presented by HPJ Performance to the St. Louis area. After 14 years in Joliet, the event moved to World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway in nearby Madison, Illinois, where a long-standing tradition of Ford racing continued with the 15th Annual Super Bowl event. And despite a persistently poor weather forecast, spectators enjoyed a safe and socially distanced event, while racers sped to the Aerospace Components Winner’s Circle. In the combined NMRA and NMCA VP Racing Madditives/Mickey Thompson Street Outlaw category, Dom DiDonato took the top spot in qualifying with a 4.32, and Tony Hobson was hot on his heels with a 4.36. The pair of Mustangs waded through the 13-car field and the number one and two qualifiers were the last men standing. With identical .087-second reaction times, both drivers left evenly, but Hobson encountered issues early in his run, leaving DiDonato to speed away with a winning elapsed time of 4.810. At this event, the NMRA Edelbrock Renegade and NMCA Xtreme Street classes are combined for a battle of brand supremacy. Be it NMRA or NMCA, Mustangs reigned supreme in this category, with Joel Greathouse and his Fox-Body Mustang facing Tim Knieriem and his SN95 Mustang in a turbo-vs.-nitrous confrontation. Knieriem took the starting-line advantage, but that and his 4.731 effort weren’t enough to finish ahead of Greathouse and his 4.690 run. Leading the points race going into the Super Bowl event, Bill Putnam wound up second in qualifying behind Samantha Moore, who dropped an 8.57 to take top honors on Saturday in JDM Engineering Limited Street. The two drivers went through three rounds of eliminations to meet each other for the finals and it was a stunner. Putnam posted a .062 reaction time to Moore’s .125, and the difference allowed his slower 8.63 to take the win over Moore’s quicker 8.62 run. Richmond Gear Factory Stock veteran John Leslie Jr. took the number-one qualifying spot on Saturday night, and he went through Bryan Gardner on his way to the final round where he squared off against Mark Anderson. When the lights came down, it was Anderson who was quicker on the tree and quicker at the stripe for a 10.24-to-10.37 win and a trip to the Aerospace Components Winner’s Circle. The high-flying, stick-shift antics that you see in G-Force Racing Transmissions Coyote Stock never disappoints, and Michigan’s Frank Paultanis is on a tear this year, holding a commanding lead over Nathan Stymiest in the points race. Just as in the previous race in Commerce, it was Paultanis vs. Stymiest in the final round, with Paultanis driving to a winning 10.21 over Stymiest’s 10.42. Exedy Racing Clutch Modular Muscle is full of top-notch racers and there were 18 contestants at this year’s Super Bowl event. Jason Henson advanced his championship points lead after driving through five rounds of eliminations and defeating number two in points, Shane Williams, when Williams broke out in the final round. In FSC Ford Muscle competition, twelve racers faced off in the index/bracket category. The Aerospace Components Winner’s Circle awaited the driver who would be victorious in the final round, and Clyde Dunphy and his 1972 Mustang grabbed the win in the double-breakout round over Danny Towe. Looking to add another ROUSH Performance Super Stang championship to his list of accomplishments is Lexington, Illinois’ Marvin Knack. At the wheel of his 2011 Mustang, Knack fought his way to the final round of competition and proceeded to drill points leader Larry Firestone on the tree and forced him to break out to secure the Super Stang win.ARP Open Comp is one of the toughest NMRA classes to compete in, and racers often go deep in the rounds due to the number of competitors. In the final round of competition, Gordon Harlow collected the better reaction time, but Dennis Corn in his stick-shifted Ford Thunderbird pushed the Mustang driver deep at the stripe, with Harlow’s breakout turning the win light on in Corn’s lane. The tough Detroit Locker Truck & Lightning class is full of top-notch racers and the final round came down to the number one and two points place holders. Bob Dill, leading the championship currently, squared off against Keith Chobirko in the final round of competition, and the battle was over at the first strike as Chobirko turned on the red light, which provided Dill an easy path to the Aerospace Components Winner’s Circle. For 2020, the Eaton TVS Supercharger Throwdown moved to the Super Bowl in St. Louis and the competition was modified as well, with racers taking on a True Street-style competition on Saturday to set the 4-car, heads-up field for Sunday. Jason Wagoner took the win on Saturday with a 9.084 average, while Chad Walter took the runner-up honors at 10.065 seconds. Oscar Morin grabbed the 10-second award with a 10.076 average, and Kevin McKenna took home the 11-second win with a11.051 average. On Sunday, the Quick 4 was whittled down to Oscar Morin and Chad Walter in a Mustang vs. Camaro battle. Morin cut the down tree hard and charged to a 9.18 for the win over Walter’s 9.69. As the second combined event of the year, the Super Bowl pools together the both QA1 and TorqStorm Superchargers True Street racers and at World Wide Technology Raceway, competitors got to perform the class’ obligatory cruise around the 1.25-mile oval. After the racers made their three runs, QA1 True Street Veteran and frequent champion Randy Thomas took the overall with an 8.749 -second average. Mike Niehaus in his stick-shifted ’86 Mustang GT took runner up honors with a personal best 8.870 average, while Daniel Rosner picked up the 9-second win with a 9.097 average. Scott Oshinski drove to the 10-second win, Cody Poston grabbed the 11-second spot, and Bryan Newburn was awarded the 12-second prize. Paul Lewis went 13.034 to take home the 13-second win, Edwin Schoenfeld rode his SVT Lightning to the 14-second place, and ever the master of the 15-second category, Rodney Ward picked up the final prize in QA1 True Street with his Ford Fusion Sport. In the True Street Bracket, it was the 2019 Dodge Challenger of Alan Scanlan squaring off against the bad-in-black Buick Grand National of Bob Hoffman in the final round, with Scanlan drilling Hoffman to the Christmas tree and taking the win light at the top end.The Super Bowl of Street Legal Drag Racing is always a great treat for fans and racers alike. Continuing with four straight wins and extending their overall lead to 11-4, the NMRA racers defeated the NMCA’s best, 7 races to 4. The NMRA Holley Drag Racing Series continues the Arrington Performance NMRA/NMCA All-American Nationals presented by Force Engineering with the Chevrolet Performance Challenge Series at US 131 Motorsports Park in Martin, Michigan, August 27-30, 2020.

August 2, 2020

Matt DiBenedetto and the No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane team recorded their sixth top-10 finish of 2020 with a strong sixth-place run in Sunday’s Foxwoods Resort Casino 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

The finish means DiBenedetto remains 15^th in the Playoff standings with six races remaining before the top 16 begin the 10-race, season-ending battle for the championship.

And the Motorcraft team now is within three points of being among the top 12 in the car owner points standings, which is important since those teams draw for the top 12 starting spots for the next race.

Sunday’s race on the one-mile oval in Loudon saw DiBenedetto start 19^th in a line-up set by a draw.

He quickly began a march forward and was in 13^th place when the competition caution flag flew at Lap 30. He moved up to sixth place for the restart due to the varying strategies employed by race teams and was inside the top five by Lap 40.

He was running fourth in the latter portions of Stage One, and set to collect Stage points, only to see the caution flag fly with 13 laps remaining.
 
After a trip to pit road he ended that 75-lap Stage in 15th place.
 
Throughout Stage Two, he worked his way forward again and ended that 110-lap segment in 10^th place, earning one Stage point.
 
In the final third of the race DiBenedetto and the Motorcraft/Quick Lane team worked their way into the top five and ran there until the final two laps, when Kevin Harvick, riding on fresher tires, relegated the No. 21 back to sixth place.
 
The race ended with an 83-lap green-flag run to the finish, which saw Ford drivers take six of the top eight finishing positions including the win by Brad Keselowski of Team Penske.
 
DiBenedetto said his crew chief Greg Erwin and the rest of the brain trust on the Motorcraft/Quick Lane team made all the right calls and adjustments to allow him to move up from 19^th at the green flag to sixth at the finish of a relatively short race.
 
“From the start I knew we had a pretty good car,” DiBenedetto said. “It was a little loose at first but we tightened it up, which is a credit to Greg and the engineers. They did a good job on that.

 “Once we got up there where we belonged, everything went ok. We got a little tight at the end, which hurt a little, but Harvick was coming pretty hard on fresher tires, and I couldn’t quite hold him off.”
 
DiBenedetto said he feels good about the upcoming races on the schedule.
 
“Back through Pocono, we’ve had cars that can run in the top five, but we had some bad luck for a couple of races,” he said, adding that the handling package run at New Hampshire and at several upcoming tracks really suits his style.

 “The races with the 750-horsepower/low downforce rules are really fun to drive,” he said.

“And there are a lot of those races on the remainder of the schedule.”
 
DiBenedetto, who has a 40-point cushion on the Playoff bubble, said his goal for the next few weeks is to build up as many points as possible before the regular-season finale at Daytona International Speedway on Aug. 29.
 
“The thing that I worry about the most is I want as much cushion as humanly possible going to Daytona because that’s just a real crap shoot,” he said. “The more cushion we can have going to Daytona the better.”
 
Next up for DiBenedetto and the Motorcraft team is a double-header at Ford’s home track, Michigan International Speedway, on Saturday and Sunday.

NASCAR CUP SERIESFOXWOODS RESORT AND CASINO 301NEW HAMPSHIRE MOTOR SPEEDWAYTEAM CHEVY RACE NOTES & QUOTESAUGUST 2, 2020
TOP TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL FINISHING RESULTS:POS.   DRIVER9th       Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1 1LE     10th     Tyler Reddick, No. 9 Feeding America Camaro ZL1 1LE11th     William Byron, No. 24 Liberty University Camaro ZL1 1LE12th     Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Ally Camaro Zl1 1LE13th     Austin Dillon, No. 3 Freightliner Camaro ZL1 1LETOP FIVE UNOFFICIAL FINISHING RESULTS:POS.  DRIVER                                                                     1st       Brad Keselowski (Ford)2nd      Denny Hamlin (Toyota)3rd       Martin Truex Jr. (Toyota)4th       Joey Logano (Ford)5th       Kevin Harvick (Ford) TUNE-IN:The NASCAR Cup Series season continues next weekend at Michigan International Speedway with Races 21 and 22 on the revised schedule. NBCSN will telecast the FireKeepers Casino 400 live at 4:00 p.m. ET on Saturday, August 8th and the Consumers Energy 400 at 4:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, August 9th. Live coverage for both races can also be found on MRN and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio.
TEAM CHEVY NOTES AND QUOTES:
CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 9th“We were hoping to have a better finish today. I felt like we were making some ground up there late in stage two and at the start of the final stage. Then those guys got ahead of us when we stayed out and they pitted. That got us back in traffic and our drive off wasn’t good enough to drive back through the field like some of those other guys. Definitely not where we want to be, so we’ll keep working and trying to get it better.”
TYLER REDDICK, NO. 8 FEEDING AMERICA CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 10th“New Hampshire Motor Speedway is one of the most challenging tracks on the circuit for me, so to come out of here with a top-10 finish feels great. Our No. 8 Feeding America Chevrolet was very tight for most of the day, which made it really hard to roll the center of the corners like I wanted to. We had some great speed though, we just had to adjust on our Chevrolet a little bit to get the handling to match it. Towards the start of Stage 3, the handling loosened up enough for me to really start rolling through the turns and picking up some positions. With the final caution coming out when it did, we had to focus on saving fuel for a long time in the final stage, but we managed it well enough to not only make it to the end, but also fight our way into a top-10 finish. This team never gives up and we’re fighting for every spot we can as we approach the cut-off to make the Playoffs. Overall, it was a good day for us at New Hampshire in the Feeding American Chevy. It was also great to be able to represent them on the track and all the good work they’re doing to help our country.” WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 LIBERTY UNIVERSITY CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 11th“That was a hard fought one for us today. We worked hard throughout the race to get the handling right and in the middle stage of the race we were pretty good. We were able to drive up to third and I was happy with that. After that though the car just stopped turning and the handling went away towards the end. It was a typical New Hampshire race in the things you fight here handling-wise, which is good and bad, but we’ll take the solid finish and head to the Michigan doubleheader and have two really good races there.
AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 FREIGHTLINER CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 13th“We had a fast Freightliner Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, and I’m proud of Justin Alexander and everyone at RCR and ECR for giving us everything we needed today. The only thing we were missing was track position. We had to start at the rear of the field but did a good job of working our way into the top-15 or so. In Stage 2 we took right-side tires during a pit stop, which positioned us in the lead for a restart with just a few laps remaining in the Stage. I just couldn’t get going on two tires and ended up losing the lead, but we were still able to maintain enough track position to earn some Stage points. We pitted for fuel-only during a caution in Stage 3 that put us in a great position at the end of the race to go for it while a lot of other teams were in fuel conservation mode. It was amazing how fast the Freightliner Chevrolet was during that long green flag run at the end. We just needed about 20 more laps at the end to be in contention. Overall, it was a solid day for this Freightliner team.” RICKY STENHOUSE, JR., NO. 47 KROGER CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 14th“That was a really up and down race for us at New Hampshire Motor Speedway today. We knew we had speed in our Kroger Chevrolet but struggled with the handling for the beginning half of the race. Brian Pattie did a great job staying on top of the calls to keep us on the lead lap, and make adjustments that gave us a top-15 finish. We struggled in July, but that’s a solid start to our August to get back on the right momentum.” ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 CHEVYGOODS.COM/ADAM’S POLISHES CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 15th“We had an up and down day today. We started off chattering the tires, which made the car difficult to drive. Greg (Ives) and the guys made some big changes on the stops and got our Chevrolet a little better. A big thanks to my team and everyone back at the shop for their hard work every week. We will move on to Michigan for the double header next week.” RYAN PREECE, NO. 37 LOUISIANA HOT SAUCE CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 16th“New Hampshire Motor Speedway is always a place I have marked on the schedule, but we really needed a strong run today. I’ve felt like the last few weeks, we’ve had the right adjustments and the right balance in our cars, just couldn’t get luck on our side to get the result we deserved. We ran out of fuel on the final lap that cost us a few positions; but being able to be competitive and get stage points today and still come away with a top-20 finish in our Louisiana Hot Sauce Chevrolet is really positive. I’m proud of all of the hard work everyone has put in at JTG Daugherty Racing and to Trent Owens for making great adjustments all day and I’m looking forward to turning this season around.” KURT BUSCH, NO. 1 MONSTER ENERGY CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 17th“There wasn’t much magic to be found for the Monster Energy team today at the “Magic Mile”. We really struggled with the car being loose on entry all day. The guys made some adjustments to help out, but we just couldn’t find the handling for the long runs. We are working hard to get better on the short tracks like this”. TY DILLON, NO. 13 GEICO CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 22nd“Today was a long one for our GEICO team. My guys worked hard all day, but our Camaro ZL1 1LE was tight for the majority of the race. We would make a little gain and then the balance would get tight again. During the second stage, our left rear fender was flared out after contact and we lost track position on pit road to make repairs. We hoped some guys would run out of fuel there at the end, because we were one or two laps to the good, but the cards didn’t fall that way. On to the double in Michigan.” BUBBA WALLACE, JR., NO. 43 CASH APP CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 23rd“Not much to hit on today. Our Cash App Chevy was just okay. Nothing to be proud about. But we gave it our best effort. We were just way too tight. We’ve got to re-start from baseline when we come back to this place. We’ve always kind of fought that and never really had decent results. All in all, a minor setback to start the race, so we’ve got some clawing to do. We’ve got six races left to get a shot at the Playoffs, so we’ve got to get our Mojo back. It seems like we’ve been searching for it for the last couple of weeks and we’ll keep after it. So, on to Michigan.”

Austin Dillon and the No. 3 Freightliner Chevrolet Team Excel on the Long Run at New Hampshire Motor Speedway

13th   23rd  16th

“We had a fast Freighliner Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, and I’m proud of Justin Alexander and everyone at RCR and ECR for giving us everything we needed today. The only thing we were missing was track position. We had to start at the rear of the field but did a good job of working our way into the top 15 or so in Stage 1. In Stage 2 we took right-side tires during a pit stop, which positioned us in the lead for a restart with just a few laps remaining in the Stage. I just couldn’t get going on two tires and ended up losing the lead, but we were still able to maintain enough track position to earn some Stage points. We pitted for fuel-only during a caution in Stage 3 that put us in a great position at the end of the race to go for it while a lot of other teams were in fuel conservation mode. It was amazing how fast the Freightliner Chevrolet was during that long green flag run at the end. We just needed about 20 more laps at the end to be in contention. Overall, it was a solid day for this Freightliner team.” -Austin Dillon

Tyler Reddick and No. 8 Feeding America Team Show Speed En Route to Top-10 Finish at the Magic Mile

10th    13th    15th

“New Hampshire Motor Speedway is one of the most challenging tracks on the circuit for me, so to come out of here with a top-10 finish feels great. We had a great starting spot with our No. 8 Feeding America Chevrolet but didn’t have the handling to keep the track position in the preferred line. Our car was very tight for most of the day, which made it really hard to roll the center of the corners like I wanted to, so we had our hands full for the start of the race. We had some great speed though, we just had to adjust on our Chevrolet a little bit to get the handling to match it. Towards the start of Stage 3, the handling loosened up enough for me to really start rolling through the turns on the bottom and pick up some positions. With the final caution coming out when it did, we had to focus on saving fuel for a long time in the final stage, but we managed it well enough to not only make it to the end, but also fight our way into a top-10 finish. This team never gives up and we’re fighting for every spot we can as we approach the cut-off to make the Playoffs. It’s a roller coaster of a race each week, and getting more intense every week, but we’re keeping after it. Overall, it was a good day for us at New Hampshire in the Feeding America Chevy. It was also great to be able to represent them on the track and all the good work they’re doing to help our country.” -Tyler Reddick

Acura Team Penske’s Ricky Taylor and Helio Castroneves win rain-affected contest
Mario Farnbacher, Matt McMurry survive late-race spin to claim second in GTD
Heavy rains interrupt endurance contest in final hour

ELKHART LAKE, Wis. (Aug. 2, 2020) – Helio Castroneves found traction with his Acura ARX-05 where others could not, as he and his Acura Team Penske co-driver Ricky Taylor prevailed in monsoon-like conditions in the final hour to win Sunday’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race at Road America.

In the GTD class, Mario Farnbacher survived an off-course excursion on the penultimate lap of the two hour, 40-minute contest to finish second with co-driver Matt McMurry in their Meyer Shank Racing Acura NSX GT3 Evo.

Acura Team Penske
In the premier Daytona Prototype International category, the Acura Team Penske duo of Taylor and Castroneves claimed their first victory of the 2020 season in come-from-behind fashion, as Castroneves passed Renger van der Zande’s Cadillac in the final 10 minutes of the race. Once in front, Castroneves quickly opened up a half-second lead, then held on as the heavy rains returned and the race ended under caution.

The fourth race of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season started under partly cloudy skies and remained dry for the first 90 minutes. Starting from the pole, Taylor had an early race lead of just over three seconds, while Dane Cameron in the #6 Acura Team Penske ARX-05 battled the Mazda of Harry Tincknell for second.

Cameron and Tincknell continued to duel following the first round of pit stops, and eventually made contact, resulting in another stop for Cameron to repair damaged bodywork and a cut tire. The unscheduled stop and a drive-through penalty for contact effectively ended the victory hopes for the #6 Acura, with further damage sustained when co-driver Juan Pablo Montoya had late-race contact with an LMP2 entry in the rain, and had to stop again for repairs, leading to a disappointing eighth-place finish.

At the front of the field, Taylor continued to lead through the first hour before handing over to co-driver Castroneves. Briefly dropping to third following the driver change, Castroneves pulled off a clever inside/outside pass of both Mazda prototypes in the downhill run to Turn Five to regain the lead. With just under an hour remaining, a light rain turned into a downpour in the middle of scheduled pit stops, and officials halted the race for 21 minutes following a nearby lightning strike.

The race resumed with just under 30 minutes to go and Castroneves running second to van der Zande, both on wet-weather “rain” tires. When the latter ran wide exiting the final corner, Castroneves moved into the lead for the third and final time, as the rain returned and a multi-car GT crash resulted in the race ending under caution.

Acura NSX GT3 Evo Teams
In the always-competitive GTD category, the rains resulted in mixed fortunes for the Meyer Shank Racing and Gradient Racing Acura NSX GT3 Evos, highlighted by a second-place finish for the MSR duo of Matt McMurry and Mario Farnbacher.

Running eighth as the rain started to fall on parts of the 4.0-mile Road America circuit, Farnbacher was called to the pits for a well-timed stop that include fitting rain tires to the #86 NSX GT3 Evo. The sudden heavy shower that followed – initially on only part of the circuit – unfortunately caught out the #57 MSR Acura of teammate Alvaro Parente, as he crashed heavily in Turn One, fortunately without injury, but ending the day for Parente and co-driver Misha Goikhberg.

With roughly half the 12-car GTD field on rain tires at the restart, Farnbacher quickly carved his way towards the front on the wet circuit, making a daring pass for the lead on the outside of “Canada Corner” with less than five minutes remaining in the race. On the next lap, however, Farnbacher spun while avoiding a crashing GTLM-class Porsche at the “Kink”, and slipped back to his second-place finishing position.

In the #22 Gradient Racing NSX, Marc Miller was forced to enter a “closed” pit for rain tires, dropping the Acura he shared with co-driver Till Bechtolscheimer to an 11th-place finish.

Next
The 2020 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship next heads to the eastern United States for the first of two GT class-only rounds on the schedule, the August 22 Michelin GT Challenge at Virginia International Raceway in Alton, Va.

Acura Motorsports social media content and video links from the IMSA Road Race Showcase at Road America will be available on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/HondaRacingHPD) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/HondaRacing_HPD).  Produced by the CoForce Digital Media, the YouTube videos can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/HondaRacingHPDTV.  

Quotes
Helio Castroneves (#7 Acura Team Penske ARX-05) race winner: “Before the race, and knowing the forecast, we made sure our Acura was set up well for the wet. And we used the experience we gained at Daytona and other wet races we had before to learn. And this was the payoff! I was on it. When I lost the lead [to the #77 Mazda] the first time, I said ‘no way, we’ve worked too hard to let the leader go!’ so when I saw my chance [to regain the lead] I had to take it. This is fantastic!”
 
Ricky Taylor (#7 Acura Team Penske ARX-05) race winner: “My teammate [Castroneves] is unbelievable, that was such an exciting finish. It’s been step-by-step to get this car to where it is today, and the last ‘check in the box’ was winning a race in the rain. Three laps to go and man, he did it.”
 
Mario Farnbacher (#86 Meyer Shank Racing Acura NSX GT3) finished second in GTD: “Matt [McMurry, co-driver] had a good stint, keeping the car clean. We’d gained a bit of understeer since practice, but we were able to manage it during the race. My first stint was mega, and the team had a great pit stop which allowed us to overtake our sister car [the #57 Acura NSX GT3 Evo] in the pits. I was able to push right away, but the car has some braking issues so I just tried to survive. We came in early for rain tires [at the final pit stop] and I think that was key, so thanks to [team owner] Mike [Shank] and the guys for putting me into the right strategy – that was the reason we finished on the podium. We should have won, but that’s racing sometimes. These are good [championship] points, so on to the next one.”

Richard Childress Racing at New Hampshire Motor Speedway …  In 128 NASCAR Cup Series starts at the ‘Magic Mile’,Richard Childress Racing has recorded four wins with drivers Robby Gordon (2001), Kevin Harvick (2006), and Clint Bowyer (2007 & 2010). The Welcome, N.C. organization has also secured 16 top-five and 41 top-10 finishes. COVID-19 Relief … Own a piece of history by participating in an auction and sale of Richard Childress’ personal collection of memorabilia. All proceeds will assist COVID-19 relief efforts. Thousands of rare, hard-to-find and exclusive items from Richard Childress’ 50+ years in NASCAR are up for bid or sale. Visit https://www.ebay.com/str/RichardChildresscollection. A Tribute to Bob Bahre … Last Friday it was announced that founder of New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Bob Bahre, passed away at the age of 93. Bahre was the former owner of Oxford Plains Speedway and played a crucial role in bringing NASCAR Cup Series racing to New Hampshire. Bahre, who was inducted into the Maine Sports Hall of Fame in 2017, will be commemorated on both RCR cars this weekend with a special decal. Catch the Action … The NASCAR Cup Series Foxwoods Resort Casino 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway will be televised live Sunday, August 2, beginning at 3 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network and will be broadcast live on the Performance Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

This Week’s Freightliner Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE at New Hampshire Motor Speedway… Dillon has made 10 previous NASCAR Cup Series starts at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, earning his best finish of eighth in July 2015. In six NASCAR Xfinity Series starts at the track, Dillon has earned four top-five and five top-10 finishes. Dillon is a former winner at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in the NASCAR Truck Series, winning the race from the pole position in 2015. Welcome, Freightliner … Freightliner Trucks designs and manufactures a wide range of commercial vehicles for nearly any application. Our commitment to innovation, advanced technology and responsive customer relations makes it easy to understand why Freightliner is the best-selling brand of heavy-duty Class 6-8 trucks in North America. Playoffs Bound … Dillon survived three late-race restarts at Texas Motor Speedway to earn the win in the No. 3 Bass Pro Shops/E-Z-GO/Tracker Off Road Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, securing a spot in the 2020 NASCAR Playoffs. His teammate, Tyler Reddick, finished a strong second to create a 1-2 finish for Richard Childress Racing. AUSTIN DILLON QUOTES:What are your thoughts on New Hampshire Motor Speedway?“New Hampshire Motor Speedway has always been a really fun track. I love going there. It’s a flat track. Entry is fun there. It’s different. It’s a different type of feel than what we have anywhere. You slide the left rear into the corner and you pick up the right front and the first person to get back to the gas is going to be good.” If you were to win Loudon the Lobster, the monster trophy that’s given out to drivers when they win at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, what would you do with it?“Oh man. I’d probably get a fish tank and keep him in it. I’d give him a good home so that he could live out his days comfortably as a trophy.”

Tyler Reddick and the No. 8 Feeding America Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE at New Hampshire Motor Speedway …Tyler Reddick will be making his NASCAR Cup Series debut at New Hampshire Motor Speedway this Sunday. Reddick has two NASCAR Xfinity Series starts, with his best finish of fourth in 2019 under the direction of crew chief Randall Burnett. The Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender also has three NASCAR Truck Series starts and two top-10 finishes at the mile-long track. Welcome, Feeding America … Feeding America® is the largest hunger-relief organization in the United States. Through a network of 200 food banks and 60,000 food pantries and meal programs, Feeding America provides meals to more than 40 million people each year. Feeding America also supports programs that prevent food waste and improve food security among the people they serve; educates the public about the problem of hunger; and advocates for legislation that protects people from going hungry. Visit www.feedingamerica.org, find us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter. The Caterpillar Foundation Supports … The Caterpillar Foundation is proud to have partnered with Feeding America for the last eight years, and most recently, as part of our disaster response, supported their COVID-19 Response Fund with a $1M investment. Our philanthropic efforts will help provide millions of fresh meals and additional resources to individuals, families and seniors in need during the pandemic across the country, including those in Caterpillar communities. Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen Supports … Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen proudly supports Feeding America and the fight against hunger through annual contributions from the Darden Foundation. This year, the Foundation donated $2 million to benefit local food banks in the communities we serve. For every dollar donated, 10 meals are provided to people in need.    Watch the Race with Cheddar’s… Don’t miss out! Cheddar’s is offering 15% off all To Go orders with the offer code RACEDAY placed on 8/2 and every Cup Series race day for the remainder of the 2020 season! Whether you’re watching the race on a Sunday afternoon or on a weekday under the lights, watch with all your Cheddar’s favorites for 15% off. Terms & conditions apply, visit cheddars.com/offer/race-day for full offer details. TYLER REDDICK QUOTE: What are some of the challenges for you as you head to NHMS for the first time in the Cup Series?“I love the fans up at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, and I love the scenery, but that track is one of the trickiest ones on the circuit for me. Back in my NASCAR Truck and Xfinity days, I relied a lot on practice to get comfortable there each year, so that is going to be a challenge for myself and my team to overcome on Sunday. I’ve started to get a little more comfortable over the years, but I still am not quite where I’d like to be with it. I definitely am leaning a lot on my crew chief, Randall Burnett, to prepare for the race. He always does a great job at these tracks were I’m not as comfortable and setting up our No. 8 Feeding America Chevrolet to be as strong as possible off the truck. I’ll also lean on my teammate, Austin Dillon, a lot too this weekend. He likes going to New Hampshire, so I’m hoping he’ll have some good notes and feedback to share.”

YORBA LINDA, Calif. (July 31, 2020) – After four months of postponement and ever-changing scenarios, NHRA went forward with a revised Mello Yello Drag Racing Series schedule that restarted with two-consecutive races at the storied Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis in Indiana. Sixteen-time Funny Car world champion and NHRA legend John Force sidelined his four-car team for the restart of the Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season. The driver of the PEAK BlueDEF Chevrolet Camaro SS announced today that John Force Racing will remain parked for the 2020 season in order to come back at championship caliber.  “When I first got into racing, I always had a love for cars, I loved the comradery of the team, I loved the competition. As I evolved, I realized what it took to become a winner. It took money and that’s when I started chasing corporate America. I had no personal wealth, I had to find sponsors to get me the crew chiefs I needed to win,” said Force, owner and CEO of John Force Racing. “As the winning happened, I found a new love. The fans. The fans are what kept me motivated and made me never ever think anything would come to an end. Even in the hardest of times, I call them crossroads, I got through it with the help of the fans and my sponsors. I went from a one car team to a multi-car team, to having machine shops, chassis shops and paint shops and the technology to win.  “Suddenly, the virus hit, and it changed the world. Robert Hight, President of the company, and I got back from Gainesville and we started working on a plan, we had to reset John Force Racing. Everyone was having to adapt. We had to make cuts everywhere. We ran numbers over and over. In our contracts with sponsors we have guarantees. They get social media, certain number of races, certain number of race days, activation at races and other commitments. No matter how I looked at it I couldn’t deliver on those commitments. It just wasn’t fair to them,” continued Force. “The impact of not being able to deliver on these commitments makes sitting out the rest of the 2020 season the right thing to do. No matter how I looked at it, no matter how much I personally invested, I couldn’t make it. “At that point, I made the decision to ‘live to fight another day.’ We can’t fight now, we can’t race right now, but with what I have, with the help of my sponsors and my own personal money, I can maintain. I have to protect my family, my employees, my teams and my sponsors. What I built was a team that could win. All I have to do is get to next year. It will look different, but I have all my department leads and my sponsors, Auto Club, Chevrolet, PEAK, Monster, Frank Tiegs owner of Flav-R-Pac and Montana Brand, Cornwell Tools, Parker Store, Baldwin Filters, they’re all supportive,” said Force.  “What I’m saying is that I’m going to prepare to come back next year stronger than ever. Watching all the people that went racing, NHRA, the track, Safety Safari, TV, the media, all the winners, all the teams, thank you for racing and keeping the sport alive. I am really heartbroken I’m not out there. If I had stayed and raced, I couldn’t come back. If I step back now, I can. I want to be with all of you again and I want to be competitive. We will continue to support all our sponsors, doing their promotions as planned and stay relevant on social media for the fans; we are going to continue to build race cars, as we always have, build engines, mount bodies, parts and do everything we can because we are open for business in Indy and California,” concluded Force.